You don’t need a holiday

Welcome back, Holidaymaker!

Have you just unpacked your travel suitcase but after coming back to work you feel like you’ve never left the office? Are the tons of unread emails pilling in your inbox the only reminders of your sweet 2-week absence? Have your holiday fresh energy and motivation melted in the business buzz as fast as that incredibly-hell-goodgelato in the Sicilian (or any other) sun?

“I need a holiday”.

Who facing the demands, stress or routine of today’s professional life didn’t say it at least once, with inner voice or out loud, somewhere in the middle of the never-ending meeting? Or after 15 minutes of looking without seeing at the computer screen? Or just after coming back from… last holiday?

We often see a time off as a salvation from KPIs and ASAPs. Or as a window through which we can jump out for a while from the train of days rushing in the direction we even don’t have time to question.

But is it “a holiday”, this 2-week parenthesis in our normal lives what can really give us a strength and motivation to keep confronting the professional challenges and being a productive and HAPPY professional once we are back?

“The journal of Applied Research in Quality of Life published a study where researchers in the Netherlands found most people were not happier after a vacation. Approximately 1,500 adults were questioned about their happiness before and after travel, and for the average vacation, people reported no change in happiness. Why spend all the time, money, and energy if vacations do not have a return on that investment?” asks Shawn Anchor, New York Times bestselling author of The Happiness Advantage in his for Harvard Business Review article.

ANITA C.

A former corporate employee, who some time ago asked herself a question: Am I going where I really want to go? And it was not because she was lost at the shopping center. Now after adjusting her north, as a part of DLI Travel, she fully enjoys using her (rediscovered) skills each and every day.

According to another study conducted by Anchor together with Michelle Gielan (Institute of Applied Positive Research) on 414 travellers:

“taking time off from work can make you happier, healthier, and more productive when you return, but only specific kinds of travel produce these results”.

“Approximately 1,500 adults were questioned about their happiness before and after travel, and for the average vacation, people reported no change in happiness”.

Why doesn’t a holiday miracle always work?

Firstly, it’s easy to understand that the poorly planned holidays where the stress is generated because of the unfamiliarity with the location, travel uncertainty and time spent on hustle researches will not make you any happier.

Secondly, nor will do the fact, that even if you manage to switch off your work devices, it’s not that easy to switch your work standby mode. In fact, many of us don’t mentally disconnect from the professional duties any single off day, having in mind the pile of to-dos which is dramatically raising on our desks.

*Holiday spoiler alert

Finally, let’s face it. The conditions that you left at the office, won’t change while you’re away. Probably after you’re back, your co-workers will still put the empty milk box to the fridge, the air-condition will blow too strong or too weak. The deadlines you’ve to meet won’t be extended, the pressure that’s on you isn’t likely to be decreased and the overwhelming situations won’t disappear from your professional horizon. Nor will do THIS ONE THING you’ve been ingeniously postponing so now it could give you a Top Procrastinator prize.

Your work will not change, what should then?

As the work that you leave behind (or at least you try to) going on vacation won’t change when you’re away, what has to change is the way you approach your work once you’re back. And this change, not according to any prestigious research but according to me, a modest ex-corporate worker, is something that can “make you happier, healthier, and more productive when you return”.

Easy to say. Not every time off, not every travel, not every holiday can give you the space for personal rediscovery, inspiration flow and energy boost which can trigger this change. Are there any specific conditions which can facilitate it, though? We have been trying to answer this question for months. What have we discovered?

The change boosting formula

Many months of thinking about the needs and challenges of the workers performing in the demanding business environment lead us to the holiday formula we truly believe in as it is born out of our experience, the best knowledge and will.

We’ve gathered all the ingredients that aim to bolster the inner strength, giving the space to breathe and think, while inspiring to take the path to fulfil one’s true potential.

Check them out on Boost Camp Bali, maybe they will work for you, inspiring the time off that’ll “make you happier, healthier, and more productive when you return”.

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